2008 Christmas Personalized Ornaments And More….

We did our Christmas decorations this afternoon. Surprisingly enough, it didn’t that much time to do. Maybe because I already knew where everything goes. Or the fact that the baby was taking a nap so Hubs and I, with C watching and waiting for his turn to hang his ornaments, got everything out with no hassle.

We buy new ornaments every year as a tradition. Last year we added a new set of Christmas characters. Tree, candy cane, stocking, bells, Santa, etc. This year, Hubs and I thought we’d add the children’s favorites as part of the decors. During our Christmas Shopping (yes, I’m done), I found Disney Princesses stocking and ball ornaments for the baby girl while Hubs found a National Guard ornament and Stocking for the boy. When Daddy took the stuff out of the bag, C’s face was priceless. He didn’t know we bought all that stuff out. He just knew we have  the Chocolate Advent Calendar and a Countdown calendar. I forgot to take pictures of those though.

Here are the pictures. Click the thumbnails for bigger versions :

When the baby woke up from her nap, I helped her hang her Disney Princesses ornaments. Then put ball boxes back in the storage closet and vacuumed. While enjoying the pretty view of the Christmas tree and decorations around the house, a light bulb lit up. I went to my craft space/office and went to work. I thought of creating personalized Christmas ornaments using the kids Halloween pictures this year and our 2007 Christmas picture.

Using my Canon Pixma Photo Printer, I printed the pictures that I needed.

With my Cricut Expression, which by the way is my advance Christmas gift,  using the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, I cut 3 tags. 2 with regular triangle head and one with the clover head design.

Using one of my crafty scissors with stylish edge, I’ve cut the pictures and additional scrapbook papers for design on the edges when I glue the pictures on top.

Using the Cricut Expression again, I cut  3 more tags using a lamination paper, like the green and yellow papers with the same design. I’ve had this lamination papers for years. Way back when we used to live in NY. I’m glad I packed it with me when we moved here to NC. It laminates whatever you need to laminate . Anyway, I cut them slightly bigger sizes than the papers.

I glued the pictures on the edged papers, then glued them onto the tags.

Peeled off the white part of the lamination paper and laid it on top of the tag with the glued picture. There are extra space on the edges to fold on the back. The holes didn’t match exactly but enough to have the opening. Rubbed the laminating paper real smooth to wipe the bubbles off. Folded the edges onto the back and cut the extra edges.

I tied red ribbon into the holes and VOILA, personalized Christmas ornaments. You can do this yourself with your pictures. If you don’t have the laminating papers, don’t sweat it. It’s perfectly fine if they’re not laminated. If you want them though, just check out any craft of paper stores.

Pretty, no? I love my Cricut Expression. I can create anything I want. It’s nice having the CANON Pixma as well. I can print my own pictures whenever I want. It helps my impulsive bursts of creativity .

So, are you guys done with your Christmas decor yet? Have you created anything personalized to add to your decors? Please do share .